Big Hit Entertainment, a subsidiary company, announced an apology to BTS on the 13th Japan Tokyo Dome performance.
Big Hit apologized for Jimin's T-shirt, which was engraved with the atomic bomb dropping scene, saying, "I did not support the war and the atomic bomb, I opposed it, and I did not intend to hurt those who were affected by the atomic bomb." Leader RM, 24, also explained the "hat with a Nach pattern" worn in a fashion magazine pictorial in Korea in October 2014, and made it clear that he opposed "all totalitarian, extreme politically inclined organizations and organizations, including Nach."
Idol that has grown to become a private diplomatic group
BTS and other K-pop idol groups are becoming a cornerstone of cultural diplomacy. BTS is also active in Korea's face, including appearing in 'Korea and France Friendship Concert' on the 14th of last month in the tight schedule of the World tour 'Love Your Self' European performance.
RM also became a representative speaker at the UNICEF Youth Agenda 'Generation Unlimited' held at the UN Headquarters Trust Board meeting held on September 24th in New York, USA.
RM's speech, "Who are you, where you come from, whatever your skin color, be your voice, male or female," spread like a campaign under the title "Speak Yourself" through Social media and others. In many countries, regardless of age, various races began to voice their own voices with a hashtag in front of 'Speak yourself'.
According to the '2018 Global Korean wave Trend' of Korea International Cultural Exchange Agency, it is no exaggeration to say that K-pop, which was centered on BTS, led the popularity and consumption of Korean wave contents last year. 16.6% of Korean wave content consumers who recall 'k pop' as 'Korean' associative image. K-pop, which was ranked 7th in 2016 in Korean-related products, climbed to third place this time. In the Korean wave content preference category, the response to 'I like Korean K-pop content' increased by 18.2% compared to 2016.
Cheong Wa Dae has decided to award the Hwagwan Cultural Medal, saying that BTS is playing a role as a civilian diplomat.
Idol's performance is also prominent at international sports events, with CIEL from the group 'Exo' and group '2NE1', the center of the celebration of the closing ceremony of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. The closing ceremony of the 2018 Jakarta and Palembang Asian Games was decorated by the group 'Super Junior' and 'Icon'.
Some forces, idol political abuses
As K-pop's influence spreads all over the World, some are shaking up K-pop groups for political purposes.
This is a case in point of Jimin's Liberation Day T-shirt dispute - not recently that Jimin wore the T-shirt in question. This is why BTS is being targeted by Japan's anti-Japanese forces. When K-pop Korean wave re-ignited in Japan, the power that felt Danger was aiming for BTS, which has emerged as a trend. "Japan struggled to prevent the popularity of Korean singers from growing," Billboard said.
The key is that Japan's anti-Korean sentiment exploded in the wake of Jimin's T-shirt. Some analysts say that the recent ruling by the Korean Supreme Court that the cancellation of the Japan broadcast by BTS was to compensate Victims for forced labor during the Japanese colonial rule.
Online, a frame fight broke out over Jimin's Liberation Day T-shirt. Jimin's T-shirts were printed with people singing for the Korean Liberation Army and Rivellino dropping scenes. It is the claim of Japan that he mocked and demeaned Japan with the Rivellino dropping scene. On the other hand, a post with a hashtag called '#LiberationTshirtNotBomBTShirt' centered on BTS fan club 'Ami' was rapidly shared in Social media, saying that Jimin would properly announce the meaning of the Liberation Day T-shirt.
In global culture, idols and agency need to study
There were also concerns that Jimin's T-shirts were provocative of the tragedy of mankind as an atomic bomb. I can see the intention of expressing the Korean Liberation Army process, but it accepted the act of killing mankind with nuclear weapons uncritically. Some point out, "As BTS is working in World, it would not have been necessary to be more caring for those in various situations."
Many say that Big Hit responded quickly. Big Hit apologized for "Jimin's Liberation Day T-shirt was not a costume designed to hurt the atomic bomb Victims, but he did not have enough inspection in advance." "We sincerely apologize for the fact that we were able to hurt the atomic bombs unintentionally, and that we could have felt uncomfortable with the way our singer was linked to the atomic bomb image."
K-pop idols were working in World, and there were cases where they suffered from lack of understanding of social, historical and cultural backgrounds.
In 2015, Muslim girls hugged by members of the group 'B1A4' at a Malaysian fan meeting were also subjected to Danger to be arrested locally. This is because women wearing hijabs in public places have violated the "Islamic tradition" that they should not be in contact with strangers.
Although many regions are responding to the freshness of K-pop, it is the reason why there is a story that it is necessary to read the context of the local society and convert it into appropriate contents. As the K-pop influence grows, local opposition may become frequent.
Large domestic agencies are also studying other countries to their members, as well as collecting and learning various information on their own by selecting local employees. Big Heat has taken steps to address the issues raised this time. Japan and officials from the Victims Association of Korea are contacting them to explain the problems being raised and apologize to the wounded. He also explained the situation to the Simon Visental Center, which raised the issue, and sent a letter with an apology.
"We will continue to look closely at the details of Big Hit and its artists based on understanding not only the issues raised but also various social, historical and cultural backgrounds, and we will pay more attention to those who are hurt by us," said a Big Hit official.